Become an IHSA official – Registration for 2026-27 is open

General registration for the 2026-27 school year opens for individuals wishing to license as an IHSA Sports Official is now open.

This year, all registration will occur through the Arbiter platform. Please use the link at the bottom of this press release to being the registration process.

If you are looking to license as a Reciprocal Official (a Reciprocal Official is one who wants to license as an IHSA Official but does not reside in Illinois) or a Provisional Official (a Provisional Official is a 15- or 16-year old who wants to license as an IHSA Official), you MUST begin the registration process by contacting Melissa Burt at the IHSA Office. She can be reached during normal business hours of 7:30 am – 3:00 pm Monday through Friday or by email at mburt@ihsa.org.

Arbiter will also be the platform where officials will complete their yearly requirements (eg., rules meetings, rules exams, etc.). Once an official has completed those, he/she/they will receive a 'badge' that indicates completion and makes the official eligible to work IHSA contests. All registration and eligibility data will be accessible through Arbiter. Two other items of note concerning registration and eligibility include the following:

• During registration, officials will have the option to pre-order rule and case books for the upcoming year. Sports receive rule books every other year from IHSA, so officials will still have the option to order additional materials if desired.
   
• ALL officials will be required to complete concussion education and view the Hate Speech and Harassment presentation next year. The requirement to complete those will still be once every two years, but in the transition to Arbiter, ALL officials will need to complete both this coming year in order to be in-compliance and eligible to work IHSA contests. Both of these requirements will be available beginning June 1st to allow officials time, if they choose, to complete those before any other requirements related to a specific sport are available.

The base registration fee for the 2025-26 school year is $75, which includes the fee for a first sport license.

Registration Fee Schedule

• Individuals who register between June 1–July 31: $75 for the first sport and $10 for each additional sport.
• Individuals who register for a fall sport(s) on or after August 1, 2026, will incur a $30 late fee along with the registration/sport fee(s).
• Individuals who register for a winter sport on or after October 1, 2026, will incur a $30 late fee along with the registration/sport fee(s).
• Individuals who register for a spring sport on or after February 1, 2027, will incur a $30 late fee along with the registration/sport fee(s).

Requirements and expectations for IHSA licensed officials can be found in the IHSA Officials Handbook. The current handbook can be found here and will be updated for the 2026-27 school year on or around August 1st.

With the transition to Arbiter for officials' licensing/registration and completion of requirements, the IHSA Officials Center will be changing in advance of next school year. The new Officials Center is expected to launch on July 1st. Until then, currently licensed officials will be able to access the soon-to-be "old" Officials Center. The new Officials Center will be accessed with an email address and password that officials will be able to manage themselves.

The new Officials Center and its content will likely evolve over time, but initially the new Officials Center will contain features like:

• 'My Schedule'
• Ratings Information (year over year data for five years)
• Report Forms
• Available Clinics
• Other Resources

Look for more information regarding the new Officials Center (officials.ihsa.org) in the coming weeks.

To assist officials with the new registration process, Arbiter has created this short video to help provide an overview of the look and feel of registration on their platform.

If an official experiences technical difficulties during the registration process, they are asked to contact the Arbiter Support Team. They can be reached via email at support@arbitersports.com, or by phone Monday through Friday 7:00 am – 6:00 pm at 800.311.4060.

During registration, you will be asked to 'select your associations'. Arbiter refers to 'associations' as assigners and not 'associations' in the way Illinois has come to refer to them over the years. Some associations are responsible for assigning officials to games, while other do not. In this step of the registration process, any groups (i.e., assigners) to which you currently belong should populate in your display. If they don't, make sure to select the drop-down menu to find that assigner (again, listed as an 'association') and select them. You can also select other assigners/associations that you wish to join. However, the assigner will determine whether or not he/she/they will invite you to their group.

If you are a member of an association, and the name of the association didn't display when you were asked to align yourself with any, there is also nothing for you to do, nor is there anything for the association to do. As mentioned, the use of 'associations' by Arbiter has a different meaning than ours in Illinois, and we wanted to make sure you were clear about this step of the registration process.

The current list of recognized assigners for the 2025-26 school year can be found in the IHSA Officials Center. While the Officials Center will change some on July 1, 2026, the assigner's list will still be a part of the new look/design. It is also expected that the list will also be posted on the Arbiter platform later this summer.

If you have any questions, please contact Kurt Gibson, IHSA Director of Officiating Services, at kgibson@ihsa.org.

Start the Registration Process Here